Fiber Roundup 6/28: Zayo, 360Networks, Sidera, US Carrier

Several expansion items in the metro and regional fiber sector in the past few days that are worth a look:

Zayo is on the offensive in Cincinnati, after announcing on Friday their intention to put new money into the market in response to demand from wholesale customers. Cincinnati hasn't been one of Zayo's principle markets, the assets came largely from one (or both) of their two deals for assets from CityNet as well as probably a bit from the Indiana FiberWorks deal. In their new expansion, they will build out new miles of fiber in the city's central business district and surrounding area, while doubling the company's local on-net building count - which currently stands at 28 I believe.

360Networks followed up last week's Texas expansion with another Texas expansion. Rather than fiber, this week's action was the addition of 117 wire centers in the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi. 360Networks will leverage that extra footprint to expand its Single Point of Interconnection and Dedicated Internet Access T1 services. This likely derives from their deal with Alpheus earlier this year.

Back in New Jersey, Sidera Networks became the latest carrier to build into the new Piscataway facility of Dupont Fabros Technology (NYSE:DFT, news, filings). They will be offering ultra-low latency connectivity to other key locations around the New York City metro area, with direct connectivity to 111 8th Ave and 165 Halsey in particular. While Sidera has been said to be up for sale, the company's owners over at ABRY Partners went out and bought Masergy the other day - suggesting that perhaps their plans may have evolved.

And down in Georgia, regional operator US Carrier has joined the Telx Ethernet Exchange down in Atlanta. Two months ago, US Carrier built out its Ethernet offering based on Cyan gear, billing it as an exchange of its own. By leveraging the Telx Ethernet Exchange, the company can better expand both its footprint and customer base beyond Georgia. US Carrier is half owned by Zayo via the AFS deal, but interestingly Zayo's 10-Q suggests the two companies have been bickering over the details of that relationship since that deal closed. I suspect it might get resolved with Zayo buying the rest of the company at some point, but who knows.